This is a false statement.

Cable locks are perfectly good for one thing: Deterring opportunistic theft by non-professional thieves.

In my area, there are no professional bike thieves... for the same reason there are no snowmobile rental places. NO BUSINESS. You can't make a living stealing one bike a year.

However, there are teenagers, coworkers with twisted senses of humor, and petty thieves. Any one of those might take an unlocked bike (maybe just to move it somewhere so you don't know where it is, maybe to steal it) and would be deterred by a cable lock because they don't feel like / know how / have the tools to break ANY lock.

Also I still say that the "time to cut through the rim" is insignificant. Bolt cutters deflate the tube really really fast... even if you have a small pair that don't open far enough to get a grip on the tire, the valve stem works just as well. In my case I have a pair of 16" bolt cutters (16" long, could easily carry in a backpack). I just grabbed the tire and snip, instant deflation.

However I do agree with the statement that it's just a matter of buying time. I think any decent u-lock or the better chain locks and a reasonably well-thought-out locking method will reduce the odds of theft to lower than the odds of vandalism... and if the bike's locked outside, you can do nothing about vandalism.